Enhancement to Volume License Keys

ABSTRACT

A method includes issuing a digital certificate to a licensee, the digital certificate identifying a licensed product and the licensee to enable the licensee to enable the licensed product. The method involves receiving a request to enable the licensed product from an entity, the request including the digital certificate and determining whether the entity is the licensee of the licensed product based on the digital certificate. A system includes a relational structure having associations among authorized entities and digital certificates within an organization. Each to digital certificate identifies a licensed product licensed to the organization. A certificate distribution module distributes the digital certificates to associated authorized entities.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a divisional application of co-pending,commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/805,371, entitled“Enhancement to Volume License Keys”, filed on Mar. 19, 2004, whichapplication is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The described subject matter relates to electronic computing, and moreparticularly to systems and methods for volume licensing using digitalcertificates.

BACKGROUND

Protecting software and other works from improper copying and use is aserious problem facing vendors of such property. Vendors of softwareproducts typically license their products to licensees of the products.The license has terms of use and often can only be activated or madefully functional when the licensee enters an alphanumeric license key,such as a hash license key, that “unlocks” the product, thereby enablingthe product or the product's full feature set. A license may be issuedto an individual user, or to an organization, such as a corporation,with many potential users. A license to an organization is oftenreferred to as a volume license and the license key for a volume licensea volume license key. Unfortunately, a traditional volume license keycan be very difficult if not impossible to enforce for a number ofreasons.

One reason a traditional volume license key is difficult to enforce isthat the license key does not provide a way to validate the identity ofthe user of the license key. For example, a hash license key consists ofa series of letters and numbers that, when entered by the user, aredecrypted with a hash algorithm to determine whether the hash licensekey is a valid license key. Anyone who obtains the hash license key andthe identity of the associated product may be able to enter the licensekey at the vendor's web site, for example, and, since the hash licensekey is valid, thereby gain access to use the product.

A hash license key can actually be quite easy to obtain. Licensees mayintentionally or inadvertently divulge the license key. In a largecorporate environment, for example, securing the license key may beparticularly difficult. The corporation may be spread over a largegeographic area and employ many users who could obtain access to thelicense key. Once a user obtains access to the license key, the user canpass it on to anyone (even unauthorized users) who will then be able toenable the licensed product with the license key. As a result, thelicensee corporation may not be able to control who obtains licensekeys. Vendors to corporate licensees essentially take it on faith thatthe licensees will secure the license key from improper use.

In addition, license key generators are tools that rapidly generatealphanumeric sequences. License key generators are readily available tomany users. Unscrupulous users can use a license key generator torapidly and repeatedly generate sequences and enter the sequences intothe license key validation mechanism, which will enable the product whenthe right sequence is entered. Whether improper access to a licensedproduct is the result of inadvertence on the part of the licensee orunscrupulous behavior, a fundamental flaw in traditional license keys istheir inability to identify the user trying to enable the licensedproduct.

In an attempt to make traditional license keys more secure, vendors havemade alphanumeric license keys longer. In general the longer the hashlicense key, the more secure the license key is. However, vendors alsorealize that licensees typically would rather not have to enter and keeptrack of extremely long alphanumeric sequences that make up licensekeys. To avoid imposing a large burden on customers, vendors typicallylimit the length of traditional license keys to relatively shortlengths, making the license keys more easily determined by a license keygenerator. Therefore, licensed products are susceptible to improperaccess, despite traditional license key approaches toward preventingsuch improper access.

SUMMARY

Implementations are described and claimed herein for enforcing a productlicense using digital certificates. A product vendor can issue a digitalcertificate to a licensee, such as an individual user, an organization,or a group within an organization. Because the digital certificateidentifies the organizational licensee and the product, an entity of theorganization can be authenticated prior to enabling the licensedproduct. The entity must provide a valid digital certificate in order toenable the licensed product. The organization can reissue the digitalcertificate to specified users or other entities within theorganization.

In some implementations, articles of manufacture are provided ascomputer program products. One implementation of a computer programproduct provides a computer program storage medium readable by acomputer system and encoding a computer program for generating a digitalcertificate associated with one or more licensed products. Anotherimplementation of a computer program product may be provided in acomputer data signal embodied in a carrier wave by a computing systemand encoding the computer program for generating a digital certificateassociated with one or more licensed products.

The computer program product encodes a computer program for executing ona computer system a computer process that generates a digitalcertificate associated with a licensed product. The process furtherincludes receiving a digital certificate including a product identifierand an entity identifier. The process further includes determiningwhether the requested product is the licensed product and validating theidentity of the requesting party based on the entity identifier.

In another implementation, a method includes creating associationsbetween a digital certificate and one or more specified entities in anorganization, and issuing the digital certificate to the one or morespecified entities based on the associations. The method may furtherinclude creating the digital certificate hierarchy from a licensordigital certificate identifying a licensed product and a licenseedigital certificate identifying the organization or an entity in theorganization. The method may further include receiving the licensordigital certificate from an authorizing entity granting authority toenable the licensed product.

In yet another implementation, a system includes a certificate processorassociating a digital certificate with one or more authorized entitiesin an organization and issuing the digital certificate to the one ormore authorized entities. The system may also include a hierarchicalstructure representing a hierarchy of entities in the organization. Thehierarchical structure includes the digital certificate associated withauthorized entities at levels of the hierarchy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment in which digitalcertificates can be used to enforce volume license keys;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary certificate processor having anexemplary relational structure for associating digital certificates withorganizational entities;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary digital certificate hierarchy composedof a root licensor digital certificate and one or more licensee digitalcertificates;

FIGS. 4-5 are flow charts illustrating operation flows or algorithms foruse in enforcing a volume license using digital certificates; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary computing device thatcan be utilized to implement volume licensing with digital certificates.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

Briefly, volume licensing of a product using digital certificatesinvolves issuing a licensor-issued digital certificate to anorganization and issuing a child digital certificate based on thelicensor-issued digital certificate to authorized entities within theorganization, which can use the digital certificate to enable thelicensed product. Because traditional volume license keys are highlysusceptible to improper use by non-licensed entities, a digitalcertificate provides a highly secure mechanism for ensuring that onlylicensed entities can enable and use the licensed product. The volumelicensing scheme described herein allows a vendor to issue digitalcertificates that may include one or more use conditions to anorganization. The organization employs a certificate processor forreissuing digital certificates to specified entities within theorganization.

Exemplary System

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment 100 in whichvolume licensing using digital certificates can be carried out. A vendor102 produces software products 104 that can be licensed and distributedto an organization 106. In a particular implementation, the products 104each include a certificate validator 108. After a product 104 isdistributed to the organization 106, the certificate validator 108determines whether users can enable the product 104 based on digitalcertificates presented by the users.

The vendor 102 may distribute a particular product 110 to theorganization 106 through a third party distributor (not shown), via acommunications network 112 (e.g., the Internet), or otherwise. Theproduct 110 is distributed in the form of computer-readable media, suchas computer storage media (e.g., compact discs, floppy disks) orcommunications media. At the organization 106, the product 110 istypically stored on an application server 114. From the applicationserver 114, a user or other organizational entity 116 may use theproduct 110 if the entity 116 has a proper product-specific digitalcertificate.

A certificate generator 118 at the vendor 102 generates product-specificdigital certificates 120. As such, each of the digital certificates 120is associated with one of the products 104. The digital certificates 120are each signed by the issuer (in this case, the vendor 102) using apublic key that ensures that the digital certificate 120 cannot bemodified. As is discussed further below, the digital certificates 120can include other information for use in licensing the associatedproduct 104. When the organization 106 purchases one of the products104, the certificate generator 118 issues an associated one of thedigital certificates 120 to the organization 106.

As shown in FIG. 1, the organization 106 purchases and is licensed theproduct 110. The organization 106, as licensee of the product 110, isissued a product-specific digital certificate 122, referred to as alicensor certificate 122 (which is one of the digital certificates 120),by the vendor 102. The licensor certificate 122 is specific to theproduct 110. The licensor certificate 122 is stored at the organization106 where it is used by a certificate processor 124.

The certificate processor 124 can use the licensor certificate 122received from the vendor 102 to generate other digital certificates 126,referred to as licensee certificates or child certificates 126, whichare based on the licensor certificate 122. Because the licenseecertificates 126 are based on the licensor certificate 122, the licenseecertificates 126 are also specific to the product 110. The certificateprocessor 124 can combine public portions of the licensor certificate122 and one or more licensee certificates 126 to create compositecertificates, which are discussed further with respect to FIG. 3.

The certificate processor 124 distributes one or more of the compositecertificates to organizational entities 116 via a communications media,or storage media, or other distribution mechanisms, within theorganization 106. After the certificate processor 124 distributes acomposite certificate to an entity 116, the entity 116 can use thecomposite certificate to enable products for use from the applicationserver 114.

For example, assume that a computer user 128 receives compositecertificate 130 that is specific to product 110. In this case, thecomputer user 128 enters the composite certificate 130 into theproduct's 110 certificate validator 132. The certificate validator 132uses the composite certificate 130 authenticates at least two pieces ofinformation: the identity of the requesting entity 128 and whether therequested product is licensed to the requesting entity 128. Thecertificate validator 132 may also validate other information related toother conditions or restrictions that can be included in the compositecertificate 130. For example, the composite certificate can include anexpiration date, which the certificate validator 132 can use todetermine whether the license has expired. If the certificate validator132 determines that the composite digital certificate is authentic, thecertificate validator 132 enables product 110 for use by the user 128.Enabling the product 110 for use can include enabling a limited featureset or the entire set of features provided by the product 110. The setof features enabled can be specified by use conditions (discussedfurther below) in the composite digital certificate 130.

One implementation of the certificate validator 132 uses a certificateauthority (CA) (not shown) to validate a digital certificate. In thisimplementation, when the certificate validator 132 receives a productrequest from an entity 116, the certificate validator 132 uses a publickey associated with the CA to validate the composite certificate or achain of digital certificates including a trusted CA root digitalcertificate. Using identification information held within the validateddigital certificate, the certificate validator 132 can send a reply tothe requesting entity 116.

Another implementation of a certificate validator 132 employs a domainnaming system (DNS) lookup or a reverse DNS lookup. In such animplementation, the certificate validator 132 interfaces with a DNS (notshown) to locate computers in the organization 106 by domain name. TheDNS maintains a database of domain names (host names) and/or internetprotocol (IP) addresses along with corresponding licensed entityinformation. The certificate validator 132 can, for example, obtain adomain name from a digital certificate and query the DNS with the domainname. In response, the DNS will indicate whether the domain name belongsto the organization or entity to which the digital certificate wasissued.

Another implementation of a certificate validator 132 embeds a publickey from the product-specific certificate 124 within the product 110 ina tamper-resistant manner. When the product 110 requires validation oflicense information, a check for an installed digital certificatematching the requirements of the program is made. If no matchingcertificate is found, the existing public key infrastructure (PKI) (notshown) of the organization 106 is used to request an appropriatecertificate from the organization's certificate processor 124. If amatching certificate is found (or a new certificate matching therequirements is installed) and the restrictive conditions present in thecertificate are validated as having been fulfilled, the certificatevalidator 132 enables one or more features of the product 110.

As used herein, an organization is a group of entities that areorganized for some purpose. Examples of organizations are corporations,companies, churches, associations, governments, and political groups. Anentity is anything that exists as a particular and discrete unit withinor outside an organization. To illustrate, a computer, a computer user,and a computer process are all examples of entities. An entity may evenbe another organization.

An entity has identifying information, such as a name, address, domainname, biometric information, etc. In addition, an entity need not be ata fixed physical location. Thus, by way of example, an entity can bepart of an organization, but may or may not be at the location (e.g.,building or premises) where the organization typically conductsbusiness.

In addition, one or more entities can be grouped together in variousways to achieve various operational goals. As an example, entities maybe grouped according to corporate department, geographic location,division, and others. To illustrate, as shown in FIG. 1, a group A 134includes a number of computers/users 116, and another group B 136includes a group C 138, both of which include computer/users 116.

In an exemplary implementation, when an entity 116 wants to use thelicensed product 110, the entity 116 requests a digital certificate fromthe certificate processor 124. The certificate processor 124 includesstructures and processes for identifying one or more composite digitalcertificates (digital certificate hierarchy or chain) that therequesting entity 116 is authorized to use, and granting access to orgenerating new composite digital certificates for the requesting entity116.

In another implementation of the certificate processor 124, entities 116enroll with the certificate processor 124. In this implementation, theentities 116 notify the certificate processor 124 when they comeon-line. In response, the certificate processor 124 issues theappropriate digital certificate(s) to the enrolling entities 116.

The entities 116 in the organization 106 can be located on-site oroff-site while accessing the certificate processor 124. The entities 116may include full-time employees of the organization 106 or temporaryworkers (e.g., consultants, contractors). The entities 116 transmitidentity information to the certificate processor 124 in order to obtaina digital certificate. The identity information may include informationsuch as computer identifier, biometric information, user passwords, usertitle, geographic location, domain name, or group. The certificateprocessor 124 can use such information to determine whether and whatdigital certificates the entity 116 is authorized to use.

Another implementation of the environment 100 includes a public keyinfrastructure (PKI) for authenticating the organization 106 andentities 116 within the organization 106 for licensing purposes.Generally, a PKI is a system of digital certificates (and otherregistration authorities) that verifies and authenticates the validityof each entity 116 involved in a network transaction. PKI lays thegroundwork for requiring entities 116 to have an issued key (orpassword) to enable licensed products. A digital certificate typicallycontains entity identification information, a copy of the entity'spublic key (used for encrypting messages and digital signatures), and apublic key from the entity that issued the certificate so that arecipient (e.g., the certificate validator 132) can verify that thecertificate is authentic.

One implementation of the certificate generator 118 uses a certificateauthority (CA) (not shown) to create digital certificates 120. The CA istypically a trusted third-party organization or company that issuesdigital certificates used to create digital signatures andpublic-private key pairs. The role of the CA in this process is toguarantee that the entity granting the digital certificate is, in fact,who the entity claims to be. The CA often has an arrangement with afinancial institution, such as a credit card company, which provides itwith information to confirm an individual's claimed identity. In thisimplementation of the certificate generator 118, the generator 118applies for a digital certificate from the CA. The CA issues anencrypted product-specific digital certificate 120 containing thevendor's 102 public key and a variety of other identificationinformation. The generated certificate 120 references the CA's publickey as a method of verifying the validity of the generated digitalcertificate 120.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary certificate processor 200 having anexemplary relational structure 202 that specifies associations betweendigital certificates and entities within an organization. Thecertificate processor 200 also includes a certificate generator 204 forgenerating composite digital certificates composed of portions oflicensor certificates and licensee certificates, a certificatedistribution module 206 for distributing digital certificates toauthorized entities, and a structure manager 208 that maintains therelational structure 202.

The exemplary relational structure 202 illustrated in FIG. 2 is intendedfor illustrative purposes only, in order to show conceptually how anorganization may associate digital certificates with entities in theorganization. The relational structure 202 associates organizationaldivisions with departments, users, and digital certificates in ahierarchical manner. Thus, users are part of departments, which in turnare part of divisions. In the particular relational structure 202 shown,digital certificates (DCs) are associated with each user. Each user isauthorized to use the DCs with which they are associated.

Another implementation of the relational structure 202 employs adirectory service, such as ACTIVE DIRECTORY from MICROSOFT CORPORATION.ACTIVE DIRECTORY efficiently organizes, shares and manages informationabout network entities, such as organizational resources, departments,and users. The directory service associates organizational entities insome fashion, such as, in a hierarchical fashion. A directory servicecan allow for a greater variety of relationships than those shown inFIG. 2. ACTIVE DIRECTORY can also make it easier for the licensor toperform internal audits of product usage, simplify application of policyacross large groups, and other cost-saving benefits. The directoryservice may be accessed via light weight directory access protocol(LDAP).

The certificate processor 200 receives DCs from licensing entities, suchas, but not limited to, certificate authorities (CAs), productdistributors, and/or vendors. A DC from a licensing entity may bereferred to as a licensor DC. The certificate generator 204 generatesone or more other DCs, called licensee DCs, based on the DC issued bythe licensing entity. It is possible to allow a licensor certificate tocreate additional licensor certificates for organizations within thelicensee organization. For example, the organization 106 can generate alicensor certificate that is restricted to the accounting department.The certificate generator 204 can combine the licensee DC(s) withportions of the licensor DC to create a DC hierarchy or chain. Anexemplary format of a DC hierarchy generated by the certificategenerator 204 is shown in FIG. 3 and described below.

The certificate distribution module 206 distributes DCs to authorizedentities in the organization. The certificate distribution module 206identifies digital certificates in the relational structure 202 anddistributes them to the entities with which they are associated asindicated by the relational structure 202. The distribution module 206may distribute the digital certificates as entities come “on-line”, whenentities request digital certificates, periodically, or otherwise.

The structure manager 208 manages the relational structure 202. In oneimplementation of the structure manager 208, the structure manager 208provides a user interface and processes whereby a user, such a systemadministrator, can add entities to the relational structure 202, createassociations among entities, and assign DCs to authorized users. Theassociations that are made and the assignments of DCs to entities aretypically based on policies and procedures specific to the organizationand/or groups within the organization.

Before describing FIG. 3, a general discussion of terminology regardingdigital certificates is provided. Multiple digital certificates can becombined to form a chain or hierarchy. The initial DC from which thechain begins is referred to as the root DC. A DC that is appended to theroot DC is referred to as a child of the root DC, and the root DC may bereferred to as the parent of the child DC. A DC appended to the child DCis also called a child DC, and the first child is a parent to the secondappended child DC. Children DCs can continue to be appended until a lastchild DC is appended. Since the last child DC has no children, the lastchild DC may also be referred to as a leaf DC.

When a hierarchy of DCs is validated, such as by a certificatevalidator, the validation process typically begins with the leaf DC. Theleaf DC is validated as to the identity of the sender, as well as otherrestrictions in the leaf DC. After the leaf DC is validated, the leafsparent DC is validated. The validation process continues from child toparent up the hierarchy until a root DC is reached. In general, thevalidation process ensures that none of the DCs in the hierarchy arebeing used for a purpose that is less restrictive than any of the parentDCs. In implementations described herein, public portions of alicensor-issued DC are used as the root DC.

To illustrate an exemplary format of a composite digital certificategenerated by the certificate generator 204, an exemplary DC hierarchy300 is shown in FIG. 3. The DC hierarchy 300 includes a root DC 302,which includes public portions of a licensor DC issued by a licensingentity. The DC hierarchy 300 also includes one or morelicensee-generated DCs, or licensee DCs 304 (licensee DC₁ throughlicensee DC_(i)). The DC hierarchy 300 or DCs contained therein may beconstructed in accordance with a standard, such as the X.509 standard,or some other protocol agreed to by the product vendor and licensee.

The licensee DC 304 includes one or more fields relating to anorganizational entity. As shown, each licensee DC 304 can include, forexample, entity ID 306, a public key 308, and other information 310.Typically, the entity ID 306 and other information 310 are not includedin the same licensee DC 304, but put into separate licensee DCs 304along with a public key 308. The entity ID 306 can include one or morepieces of identity information, such as, but not limited to, entityname, address, domain name, internet protocol (IP) address, system ormachine name, or location.

The public key 308 is a public key generated from a private key obtainedfrom the licensor DC, and which can be used to validate the licensee DC304. Other information 310 includes any other useful information, suchas other information about the entity, or terms of use of the productlicense. For example, other information 310 could include use conditionscreated by a licensee organization. The organization may, for example,insert an expiration date in the other information 310 to ensure that atemporary worker can enable and use the licensed product only for alimited time. For example, the other information 310 could impose a 30day limit on the license to limit a user to using the product for only30 days. In this example, the user would typically renew every 10-15days. Such a time limit can help ensure that the product could be usedonly for a short time if the user or the user's computer were to leavethe organization.

The root DC 302 can itself be composed of a DC hierarchy. In thisimplementation, the root DC 302 includes only public portions of thelicensor DC issued by the licensing entity. Because the private key fromthe issued licensor DC allows for creating more DCs that could be usedto enable the licensed product, the private key from the licensor DC isnot included in the root DC 302. The certificate processor 200 (FIG. 2)preferably does not expose the private key from the issued licensor DC,but only uses the private key to generate the licensee DCs 304.

As shown, the root DC 302 can include public portions from multiplelicensor DCs 312 (licensor DC 1 through licensor DC n). Each of thelicensor DCs 312 can include any information useful in licensing aproduct. For example, each licensor DC 312 can include one or morefields for a vendor ID 314, a public key 316, a product ID 318, useconditions 320, or other vendor information 322. In addition, the rootDC 302 can comprise a collection of licensor digital certificates thatare arranged hierarchically according to a hierarchical structure of thelicensor or vendor.

The vendor ID 314 identifies the vendor of the product. The vendor ID314 can include any vendor identity data, such as, but not limited to,the vendor's name, name abbreviation, trade name, ticker symbol, orother identifier. The public key 316 is a public key with which thevendor signs the licensor DC. The public key 316 ensures that thelicensor DC 312 cannot be modified by someone other than the issuer ofthe licensor DC 312, and is used to authenticate the source of thelicensor DC 312. The product ID 318 includes a product identifier, suchas a product name, version, or other product identifiers. The product ID318 makes the licensor DC 312 specific to the licensed product. Any ofthe IDs described herein, such as the vendor ID 314 or the product ID318, may be implemented as globally unique IDs (GUIDs) or universallyunique IDs (UUIDs).

Use conditions 320 include one or more conditions, restrictions, orterms related to the use or licensing of the product identified by theproduct ID 318. Examples of use conditions 320 include licenseexpiration date, digital certificate enrollment requirements on thelicensed entity, product feature limitations, or notificationrequirements on the licensed entity. An exemplary enrollment requirementobligates organizational entities to enroll with a certificateprocessor, such as the certificate processor 200, in order to obtain theDC hierarchy 300. An exemplary notification requirement obligates thelicensed entity to contact the vendor periodically and/or providespecified information to the vendor. Other conditions, restrictions, orterms can be included in the use conditions 320.

Other vendor information 322 includes any other information useful forlicensing the product, enforcing conditions on the use of the product,using the root DC 302, or others. A particular example of a digitalcertificate chain is described to illustrate how a DC can be used tolicense a product. Below is shown an exemplary DC chain:

Microsoft->MSFT License->MSFT Office License->anyorg.com->JohnDoe

Above, five exemplary digital certificates are shown and labeled asfollows: MICROSOFT, MSFT License, MSFT Office License, anyorg.com, andJohnDoe, with the leftmost being a root digital certificate from thelicensor MICROSOFT. Proceeding from left to right, a child digitalcertificate appears after each “.fwdarw.” (arrow) symbol. Theinformation and terms in each of the digital certificates in the chainare described below:

  Microsoft, restriction == none MSFT License, restriction == licenseproducts, not valid  as license MSF Office License, restriction ==restricted to  Microsoft Office, not valid as license anyorg.com,restriction == Expires 12/31/2006, max 30  days per child certificate,not valid as license,  child certificates only valid as license (not for granting further certs, signing e-mail, etc.) JohnDoe, restrictions ==identity of johndoe@anyorg.com,  granted 3/15/2004, expires 4/14/2004,only usable as  license (not for granting further certs, signing e- mail, etc.)

In the above example, the organization anyorg.com was granted thecertificate by the vendor by generating a child certificate from the“MSFT Office License” certificate. Because each certificate is signed bythe parent certificate, there is no need to communicate with either a CAor the vendor, if the tamper-resistance of an embedded certificateaccepted by the product is considered sufficient. Opportunisticvalidation via a network is possible to strengthen this method, butvalidation via a network is not required. Whether or not a CA or thevendor is contacted during validation, the entire DC chain is validatedto ensure to none of the certificates are being used for a purpose thatis less restrictive than the parent certificate.

By way of example, an embedded certificate could be, but is not limitedto, a public key of one of the parent certificates embedded within thelicensed product. Because the embedded certificate is embedded in theproduct, the embedded certificate is preferably resistant from tamperingby the licensee or entities associated with the licensee.

In addition, the restriction date for JohnDoe is Apr. 14, 2004. This isacceptable because a new certificate may be generated by theorganization's certificate processor 200 at any time before the providedcertificate for the entity expires. The restriction of 30 days maximumtime for final certificates is exemplary to show how to reduce riskassociated with an entity which previously was licensed for a product inan organization to ensure the certificate will expire before theorganization's full certificate expires.

Exemplary Operations for Volume Licensing Using Digital Certificates

Described herein are exemplary methods for implementing volume licensingusing digital certificates. The methods described herein may be embodiedas logic instructions on one or more computer-readable medium. Whenexecuted on a processor, the logic instructions cause a general purposecomputing device to be programmed as a special-purpose machine thatimplements the described methods. In the following exemplary operations,the components and connections depicted in the figures may be used toimplement volume licensing using digital certificates.

FIG. 4 illustrates a volume licensing operation flow or algorithm 400that could be executed by a vendor for licensing a product to a licenseeusing a digital certificate (DC). The operation flow 400 generallyinvolves issuing the DC to the licensee and authenticating a digitalcertificate received from the licensee.

A generating operation 402 generates a licensor digital certificateassociated with the licensed product. The licensor digital certificateincludes information such as the information shown in the licensor DC312 in FIG. 3 and may be used to create licensee-generated digitalcertificates. An issuing operation 404 issues the licensor digitalcertificate to the licensee, which can use the licensor digitalcertificate to enable the licensed product. A certification authority(CA) can be used to facilitate the generating operation 402 and/or theissuing operation 404.

A receiving operation 406 receives a request from an entity for aproduct. The request includes the licensor digital certificate or adigital certificate hierarchy formed from information in the licensordigital certificate. The request also includes identity informationassociated with the requesting entity, such as identity informationshown in the licensee DCs 304 in FIG. 3.

An authenticating operation 408 uses identity information, such as thepublic key, received in the digital certificate to authenticate therequesting entity.

A verifying operation 410 verifies that the product requested by therequesting entity is licensed to the requesting entity. In oneimplementation, the verifying operation 410 performs a reverse domainnaming system (DNS) lookup, wherein a domain name of the requestingentity is input to a DNS that responds with products licensed to therequesting entity.

Another verifying operation 412 verifies that any other use conditions,such as use conditions 320 (FIG. 3), are met. Thus, for example, if ause condition includes an expiration date, the verifying operation 412determines whether the current date is later than the expiration date.As another example, if the use conditions require that the licenseecontact the vendor with certain information periodically, the verifyingoperation 412 determines whether the licensee has contacted the vendoraccordingly.

FIG. 5 illustrates a digital certificate management operation flow oralgorithm 500 that could be executed by an organization with multipleentities for assigning and distributing digital certificates to theentities. The operation flow 500 can help ensure that only authorizedentities within the organization will be able to enable licensedproducts. Steps such as those shown in the operation flow 500 may berequired by a vendor, or other licensing entity, as a condition tomaintaining the license.

A receiving operation 502 receives a root digital certificate from thevendor for a licensed product. A constructing operation 504 constructsone or more digital certificate hierarchies using the root digitalcertificate and one or more licensee digital certificates. In oneimplementation, the constructing operation 504 constructs a digitalcertificate hierarchy that corresponds to an organizational hierarchy ofentities within the organization. Exemplary root DC 302 and licensee DC304 are shown and described above with respect to FIG. 3.

An assigning operation 506 assigns the digital certificate hierarchiesto authorized entities within the organization. One implementation ofthe assigning operation 506 involves populating a relational structureor directory service with entity identifiers and digital certificates,and creating associations among the entity identifiers and the digitalcertificates. The associations can be chosen by a system administratoror other user, typically based on policies and procedures defined by theorganization or groups within the organization.

A receiving operation 508 receives a request for a digital certificatefrom an entity. The request includes entity identity information, suchas computer identifier, network address, user name, biometric data,password, location, domain name, or others. The entity identityinformation is used to determine which, if any, digital certificates areassigned to the requesting entity.

A distributing operation 510 determines whether the requesting entity isauthorized to access any digital certificates that would enable theentity to use the associated licensed products. One implementation ofthe distributing operation 510 accesses a directory service via lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP). The directory service returnsany digital certificates associated with the requesting entity, based onthe entity identity information.

Exemplary Computing Device

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary computing device 600that can be utilized to implement systems, algorithms, data structures,and computer-readable media for volume licensing using digitalcertificates. Computing device 600 includes one or more processors orprocessing units 632, a system memory 634, and a bus 636 that couplesvarious system components including the system memory 634 to processors632. The bus 636 represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory 634 includesread only memory (ROM) 638 and random access memory (RAM) 640. A basicinput/output system (BIOS) 642, containing the basic routines that helpto transfer information between elements within computing device 600,such as during start-up, is stored in ROM 638.

Computing device 600 further includes a hard disk drive 644 for readingfrom and writing to a hard disk (not shown), and may include a magneticdisk drive 646 for reading from and writing to a removable magnetic disk648, and an optical disk drive 650 for reading from or writing to aremovable optical disk 652 such as a CD ROM or other optical media. Thehard disk drive 644, magnetic disk drive 646, and optical disk drive 650are connected to the bus 636 by appropriate interfaces 654 a, 654 b, and654 c. The drives and their associated computer-readable media providenonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules and other data for computing device 600. Although theexemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk, a removablemagnetic disk 648 and a removable optical disk 652, other types ofcomputer-readable media such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards,digital video disks, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories(ROMs), and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment.

A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk 644, magneticdisk 648, optical disk 652, ROM 638, or RAM 640, including an operatingsystem 658, one or more application programs 660, other program modules662, and program data 664. A user may enter commands and informationinto computing device 600 through input devices such as a keyboard 666and a pointing device 668. Other input devices (not shown) may include amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like.These and other input devices are connected to the processing unit 632through an interface 656 that is coupled to the bus 636. A monitor 672or other type of display device is also connected to the bus 636 via aninterface, such as a video adapter 674.

Generally, the data processors of computing device 600 are programmed bymeans of instructions stored at different times in the variouscomputer-readable storage media of the computer. Programs and operatingsystems may be distributed, for example, on floppy disks, CD-ROMs, orelectronically, and are installed or loaded into the secondary memory ofthe computing device 600. At execution, the programs are loaded at leastpartially into the computing device's 600 primary electronic memory.

Computing device 600 may operate in a networked environment usinglogical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remotecomputer 676. The remote computer 676 may be a personal computer, aserver, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common networknode, and typically includes many or all of the elements described aboverelative to computing device 600. The logical connections depicted inFIG. 6 include a LAN 680 and a WAN 682. The logical connections may bewired, wireless, or any combination thereof.

The WAN 682 can include a number of networks and subnetworks throughwhich data can be routed from the computing device 600 and the remotecomputer 676, and vice versa. The WAN 682 can include any number ofnodes (e.g., DNS servers, routers, etc.) by which messages are directedto the proper destination node.

When used in a LAN networking environment, computing device 600 isconnected to the local network 680 through a network interface oradapter 684. When used in a WAN networking environment, computing device600 typically includes a modem 686 or other means for establishingcommunications over the wide area network 682, such as the Internet. Themodem 686, which may be internal or external, is connected to the bus636 via a serial port interface 656.

In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to thecomputing device 600, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remotememory storage device. It will be appreciated that the networkconnections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing acommunications link between the computers may be used.

The computing device 600 may be implemented as a server computer that isdedicated to server applications or that also runs other applications.Alternatively, the computing device 600 may be embodied in, by way ofillustration, a stand-alone personal desktop or laptop computer (PCs),workstation, personal digital assistant (PDA), server computer, orelectronic appliance, to name only a few.

Various modules and techniques may be described herein in the generalcontext of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules,executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, programmodules include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the program modulesmay be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.

An implementation of these modules and techniques may be stored on ortransmitted across some form of computer-readable media.Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readablemedia may comprise “computer storage media” and “communications media.”

“Computer storage media” includes volatile and non-volatile, removableand non-removable media implemented in any method or technology forstorage of information such as computer-readable instructions, datastructures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage mediaincludes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or othermemory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or otheroptical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by acomputer.

“Communication media” typically embodies computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated datasignal, such as carrier wave or other transport mechanism. Communicationmedia also includes any information delivery media. The term “modulateddata signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristicsset or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal.By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includeswired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, andwireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.Combinations of any of the above are also included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

In addition to the specific implementations explicitly set forth herein,other aspects and implementations will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification disclosed herein. It isintended that the specification and illustrated implementations beconsidered as examples only, with a true scope and spirit of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for enforcing a license of a productlicensed to an organization including a plurality of entities, themethod comprising: authenticating an entity attempting to use a licensedproduct based on a composite digital certificate composed of a parentcertificate and a child certificate, the composite digital certificatehaving a product identifier identifying the licensed product and anentity identifier identifying the entity.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising generating the composite digital certificate byinserting the product identifier and a use condition into the childcertificate.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving arequest to enable the licensed product, the request including thecomposite digital certificate, wherein the composite digital certificateincludes a use condition related to the licensed product; determiningwhether the use condition is satisfied prior to enabling the licensedproduct.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving arequest to enable the licensed product, the request including thecomposite digital certificate, the child certificate corresponding to anentity in an organization.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining, based on the composite digital certificate, whether theentity is licensed to use the licensed product.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein the composite digital certificate composed is furthercomposed of multiple child certificates, each of the child certificatesidentifying an entity in an organization.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising validating the composite digital certificate using apublic key of a certificate authority.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising looking up a domain name associated with the entity in adomain naming system (DNS) to determine whether the product is licensedto the entity.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising generatingthe composite digital certificate including generating one or more useconditions related to the licensed product, the one or more useconditions comprising at least one of: an expiration time; an enrollmentrequirement specifying that an entity in an organization must enroll toreceive the composite digital certificate; a notification requirementspecifying that the requesting entity must notify an issuer withspecified information; physical location; a product feature limitation.10. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing a directoryservice using a light weight directory access protocol to create anassociation between the composite digital certificate and the entity.11. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing a directoryservice using a light weight directory access protocol to create anassociation between the composite digital certificate and the entity,the association created in a relational structure storing the entityidentifier and the composite digital certificate.
 12. Acomputer-implemented system that includes computer components stored ina computer readable media and executable by one or more processors forforming or using a composite digital certificate, the composite digitalcertificate comprising: a root digital certificate comprising a productidentifier field storing a product identifier identifying the licensedproduct; and a leaf digital certificate comprising a user identifierfield storing a user identifier identifying the user granted authorityto enable the licensed product by virtue of the digital certificate, theleaf digital certificate being a child to the root digital certificate.13. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the leaf digitalcertificate further comprises a use condition field storing a usecondition related to use of the licensed product.
 14. The system asrecited in claim 12, wherein the root digital certificate furthercomprises an issuer identifier field identifying an issuer of thelicensed product.
 15. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein theleaf digital certificate is generated by a certificate processor thatassociates entities of digital certificates within an organization. 16.The system as recited in claim 12, wherein an association is createdbetween the composite digital certificate and the user, the associationcreated using a light weight directory access protocol.
 17. The systemas recited in claim 12, wherein an association is created between thecomposite digital certificate and the user, the association created in arelational structure storing the user identifier and the compositedigital certificate.
 18. A computer-implemented system forauthenticating an entity based on a composite digital certificate, thesystem including computer components stored in a computer readable mediaand executable by one or more processors, the computer componentscomprising: a certificate validator to enable a use of a licensedproduct by: receiving a product request including reference to acomposite digital certificate from the entity, the composite digitalcertificate including (1) a parent digital certificate having a productidentifier identifying the licensed product, and (2) a child digitalcertificate having an entity identifier identifying the entity; andvalidating the product request based on (1) the product identifier, and(2) the entity identifier.
 19. The system as recited in claim 18,wherein an association is created between the composite digitalcertificate and the entity, the association created using a light weightdirectory access protocol.
 20. The system as recited in claim 18,wherein an association is created between the composite digitalcertificate and the entity, the association created in a relationalstructure storing the entity identifier and the composite digitalcertificate.